Starbucks re-vamping their rewards program.

[walkonby]

I have never been a " Starbucker " period! Tried a few times to drink a normal coffee there but it tasted so burnt to me. I am guessing these new changes to their reward programme are not a change for the better? Good thing is there are many other coffee places to switch to.

[Bloodymary]

It only makes sense if you are regulary buying pastries/food items. In our case my husband would take kids and buy them treats - cookies and stuff, sometimes iced tea, and only espresso for himself, so for roughly $10 he would only get 1 star, so new program works for him. But for me it's total loss, I'm only buying something other then cappuccino or Passion ice tea in summer, if there are bonus stars.

[mulock]

I used to be a loyal Starbucks customer, then I started drinking McDonalds coffee once in a while....maybe out of every 10 cups of coffee 2 of them would be from McDonalds, and the other 8 were Starbucks. These latest changes to the Starbucks loyalty program mean I will be drinking even more coffee from McDonalds since I only need to buy 6 cups of coffee before I get one free and a cup of coffee is under $2 each there.

[Ciel]

They keep track of partial amount.

• What will happen in the new program if I spend an uneven amount? Do I get credit for the change?+ Yes, your change counts towards partial Stars. We’ll keep track of all your partial Stars and apply them to your total Stars.
  For example, if you spend $6.20 (i.e., not including tax, tips, alcohol or other exceptions), you will earn 12.40 Stars.
  The .40 is not always visible (we like to keep things simple), but you can always view your Stars and purchase history at starbucks.ca/rewards or in the mobile app.

Good to know! How many other loyalty programs count the partial dollar spends?

[Ellen Cardinal]

Disappointed by this. I accumulated lots of stars over the years by buying coffee because I'd receive GCs from friends and family and it was just a bit more expensive than Timmys plus the line wasn't 30 minutes long just outside my university. Like some other people I'd just buy coffee and redeem for a more expensive item (i.e. frapps or food).
Oh well. Time to use up my remaining gift cards before April. :/

[MapleLeaves]

If there was a choice, I'd prefer their old reward program in the US a few years ago - 10% off every purchase for gold members. It's much more straight forward and fair.

[sweetbabigrl]

I am waiting for my 15 bonus stars that should be coming around March 10th because I made 7 purchases. I'll have enough stars for 3 rewards and I'll probably only go to Starbucks when they have half off fraps or other drinks and buy their ground coffee to make at home. I remembered doing a survey last year on swagbucks or somewhere regarding theses changes. I remember it asking what if you can use your stars for merchandise and not just drinks and foods. Maybe they will have better and more offers.

[barbs]

speaking of McDonald's coffee, you can get a free small coffee, one per person, all week from Feb. 29th to Mar. 6th. Not sure if its BC only.

[MapleLeaves]

Bonus 1 star with purchase made before March 31. So it's the time to make up to 12 stars and redeem before the program change. Maybe on April 1 Starbucks would be surprised to see that not many people have any stars left in the account to convert.

[bhlombardy]

Bonus 1 star with purchase made before March 31. So it's the time to make up to 12 stars and redeem before the program change. Maybe on April 1 Starbucks would be surprised to see that not many people have any stars left in the account to convert.

Actually, I bet they hope this happens. The fewer they have to convert, the more they assume they'll stand to gain post-conversion.

[Ellen Cardinal]

Bonus 1 star with purchase made before March 31. So it's the time to make up to 12 stars and redeem before the program change. Maybe on April 1 Starbucks would be surprised to see that not many people have any stars left in the account to convert.

I guess these offers are different for everyone. I just got an email the other day if I buy before March 14th I will receive 10 bonus stars with 3 purchases and 15 with 5 purchases. Bonus stars to be rewarded by March 29th.
Time to use up any remaining GCs for tea/coffee.

[fanofearl]

I noticed on the back page of the National Post yesterday:
text 'SMOOTH' to 81818 to get a tall True North blend for $1, valid until March 31
I would guess that means a code is sent to show on your phone, I haven't tried it, so if anyone does, maybe they could provide an update?

[bhlombardy]

I noticed on the back page of the National Post yesterday:
text 'SMOOTH' to 81818 to get a tall True North blend for $1, valid until March 31
I would guess that means a code is sent to show on your phone, I haven't tried it, so if anyone does, maybe they could provide an update?

From other advertising, they will text you back a link that you can click and open in your browser at the time of redemption with the barista.

ALSO... Just a fair warning: Know that when you text a company for promotions such as this, where they text you back the deal -- you automatically opt-in for future texts from that advertiser. Ask yourself if the nuisance to try and opt-out later is worth it.

[orbis639]

So i'm that type of person that exploited the old system. I usually buy popcorn at 12 different occasions (12 * 1.6 (including tax) = $19.2) for 20 stars, and I usually get a sandwich to maximize my savings (the sandwich is $7.30) - spending 20 dollars for 12 stars seems to be a good incentive.

However, with the new system, I would need to spend 62 dollars for a free food/drink. 62 dollars for free food/drink and in return, a 5 dollar drink/7 dollar sandwich for free (doubt anyone would get a $2 item for free). where is the bargain? (A free sandwich which values for $7.30, for the cost of $62)

Compared to the new system with the old, I will have to pay 3 times more just to get free food, and 3 times more just to get gold status.

[love00]

Yes I recently saw this and am so disappointed. i normally got a 2 dollar coffee for 1 star.... So only needed to spend about 24 dollars in order to get a free cup of coffee. Now it will take forever to get a free cup of coffee!!! TERRIBLE update to their rewards system if you ask me.